to the endless road and where it truly begins

I got off the airplane at Narita International Airport and I'm hit by this massive rush of humidity, despite the heavy and bleak clouds bearing overhead. It feels gross and I almost wish it was San Francisco instead, but I keep moving off the plane and moving toward Immigration. At Immigration, the line is freaking long and I have no idea how many people are tired and cranky and just standing in line. Customs wasn't so bad either. I picked up my suitcases (which are remarkably packed by the by), and then just had the officer check the paper and let me through.

The exchange rate in Tokyo is much much much better than it was in SFO, so I exchanged some more money and got some change too. I tried my first vending machine, and I picked up an iced coffee. It took 30 seconds, but it was a marvelously delicious cup of joe, sweetened and creamed to perfection. Sri and I called our respective advisers, and my adviser, Ri, spoke English and Japanese remarkably well for a Chinese national. Sri and I bought our tickets to the Yokohama City Air Terminal and as we stand in line, Sri realizes that he forgot his camera bag on the plane, so he takes his stuff and goes for it while I get on the bus to YCAT.

Sitting on that bus was unbearable, just because I was so ready to pass out. I didn't sleep much on the plane and mostly watched movies I had already seen, so my mind was pretty tired. The city is different though, how it changes from Narita to Tokyo to Yokohama. A lot of the freeway feels like the Midwest, just because the freeways are slower and have so much natural greenery around. Admittedly, it might just be an effect of the gray and gloomy weather. On the bus to YCAT, I heard so much Chinese and Japanese that I didn't understand and it bothered me that I could barely understand any and that kanji everywhere was just getting so complex. I kept looking stuff up on my iPhone to know basic words and understand them.

Once I got to YCAT, Ri picked me up and we went through this sprawling mall-maze with tons of stores and tons of people just bustling about. We also had my huge suitcase and my smaller one in tow. Once we got onto a bus for YNU, I kind of shut up and just enjoyed the view of the city, and it just keeps reminding me how much I love the city lights and how people respond to the illumination in their lives (or maybe how much they take it for granted). We got to our stop and then began this massive trek up a giant hill with my luggage, my messenger, and my heavy as hell backpack. Soon enough, we're at the dormitory and then I find out I'm on the 4th floor... without an elevator. I heft it up, dying and wheezing along the way, but then I just settle into this room. It's more spacious than I expected, nor is it as smelly. Sri arrives ten to twenty minutes later and settles in.

We meet another international student and he invites us to go down and chill with a bunch of the other incoming international students (mainly to get to know each other). I head down and it was a pretty fun and entertaining night. We've got three Brits, two Nords, a pair of Aussies, and another Stateside Californian here too. It should be pretty awesome.

I'm tired as crap now. Gnight :)